GTN : IMA TB Initiative
New WHO report highlights TB as a global priority for research and development
A recently released new report from the World Health Organization (WHO) "Antibacterial Agents in Clinical Development An analysis of the antibacterial clinical development pipeline, including tuberculosis" portrays a grim scenario by highlighting the lack of new antibiotics under development to combat the growing threat of antimicrobial resistance, which has emerged as a serious global public health concern.
Along with other priority antibiotic-resistant pathogens and Clostridium difficile, the report also focuses on Tuberculosis (TB) as a global priority for research and development. It draws attention to the fact that only seven new agents for TB are currently in clinical trials. Of these, four are in phase-1, and only one compound is in phase-3. This means that physicians have limited or no options for multidrug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MDR-TB), particularly extensively drug-resistant M. tuberculosis (XDR-TB). Perhaps, in acknowledgement of this lack of therapeutic options, the Report also says, "This is especially problematic because treatment of TB infections requires a combination of at least three antibiotics. Novel treatment regimens of short duration that are assembling non-toxic drugs are desperately needed."
The seven agents being developed specifically for treatment of TB include pretomanid (nitroimidazole), delpazolid (oxazolidinone), SQ-109 (diamine), GSK-3036656 (Leu RS inhibitor(oxaborole)), Q-203 (imidazopyridine amide), PBTZ-169 (DprE1 inhibitor (benzothiazinone)) and OPC-167832 (DPrEq inhibitor). Only two new antibiotics for treatment of MDR-TB, bedaquiline and delamanid, have reached the market in more than seven decades.
